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About Me

I am a 37 year old nurse who is currently not working due to medical issues. I have chosen to pass my time crafting, but because I am not working, I have little money to spend on supplies. I have a small stash from while I was still working but am now using what I have access to around the house. I also use things I can find cheaply at the dollar store, in the dollar bins, on clearance, or buy with coupons at Michaels and Hobby Lobby. I also like to shop thrift stores and garage sales for things to use in my crafting. You would be surprised with what you can find if you aren't afraid to prowl a little.

Sunday, June 30, 2013

While blog hopping the other day, I came across a monthly Christmas Challenge and decided I would participate. The blog site is Lady Anne's Challenges. There are several challenge on the site. You can find the details for the Christmas challenge here.

Friday, June 28, 2013

This card has several pictures as there are several different things going on. It will be entered into the PKS anything goes challenge. It is a little rough around the edges and needs to be cleaned up a little, but considering I don't really like baby cards, I think it is adorable.

This is the outside of the card. The base is just plain white card stock. The designer papers are from DCWV. The baby blocks came with the stack of paper. The diaper pins are just large safety pins with flat back resin flowers hot glued on. I don't have a cricut cartridge with a pacifier, so, I pieced one together with a hollow circle, and oval, and a light bulb.

A view of the entire inside.

This is the upper portion of the inside. The yellow paper is plain yellow cardstock that has been run through the embosser with the Swiss dots embossing folder. The safety pin with baby in a sling was a free image I downloaded, but I don't remember from where. Here is the original image:

I cute the diaper pin from silver metallic paper. The sling was scrap paper. The skin colored paper is from DCWV. I slightly enlarged the leg of the baby, because I knew I was going to use a head from the Cricut Cartridge Paper dolls for everyday and stamp it with a cute face from the PKS Wide Eyed Kids collection.

This is the part that needs some polishing. The sentiment was printed off the computer. The papers were scrap. The word "JOY" was a free fond I f0und by googling free baby fonts.

Not being able to sleep sucks! This is the 3rd or 4th night this week that I have been up all night. My head is killing me, my stomach is a mess.....ok, that's enough "poor, poor, pitiful me."

I was directed to a new digital stamp site (at least new to me) that has some very cute stuff: Hambo Stamps. And like I always do on a new site, I just start clicking stuff. Well, I ended up on their blog. And, guess what.....they have a challenge. Each week participants are given a new digital stamp (FREEBIE), and the challenge requirements.

This week's stamps was a pirate with several sentiments. It took me a little bit to figure out what I wanted to do with a pirate, and settled on this:

This is my first center step card, and I think it turned out very cute.

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Hello again everyone! I know I Have done several Independence day/Patriotic cards and projects already, but I have one more. I wanted to send a non-traditional card to my Parents-In-Law for the 4th of July. When I found the digital image I used, I knew it was perfect for them. My mother-in-law loves flowers and even works in a nursery (even though she is "retired"). She is also always posting unique ways to plant her flowers. So, here is the card I came up with.

Monday, June 24, 2013

This card will be entered into the Saturday Paper A La Mode challenge at Outlawz.

All the papers I used were scrap. The card base is plain white card stock. I then took another plain white card stock, slightly smaller than the base and ran it through the embosser with the Cuttlebug D'Vine swirls folder. After that, I lightly spritzed the paper with home made blue glimmer mist.

The rocks at the bottom of the page are actually clouds from the Ultimate Creative Sampler Cricut cartridge. I cut them out in grey paper and crumbled them up for some texture. I then lightly inked them in Marina Mist ink from Stampin' Up. I was trying to make it look like it was under water. But the blue was too blue, so then I lightly went back over it with silver ink from Studio G.

The "sea weed" is also from the Ultimate Creative Sampler.I cut it out in dark green cardstock. Then added the veins with a green bic marker. I then inked the whole thing in Marina Mist ink again.

The bubbles are from Everyday Paper Dolls. I cut them in blue glitter paper and inked between the bubbles with a turquoise pen for better definition.

The fish is a freebie from Doodle Pantry called Finny Fish. I colored her with sharpie markers and added some iridescent glitter paint to her fins. In order to make her appear wet, I coated her in glossy accents. Then, mounted her on foam tape.

The sentiment was printed from the computer and then spritzed with the same blue glimmer mist. It was a free bubble fount I found on the internet. I am honestly not sure where I got it from, but (don't laugh) I think the font is called fart bubble. yeah, I know, gross, but fell in love with the little bubble surrounding the letters. I think it is very appropriate for an under the sea scene.

Haven't been feeling well the past few days, but have been working on a few things. This card will be entered into 2 challenges:
1. Craftin Desert Diva's: On the Farm
2. Outlawz: Freebie Challenge

Papers: scrap
Digi: Freebie rooster from Sandi Huggett
Sentiment: from computer in Byron Mark I font
The red diamond paper I believe is from an old Christmas stack. I distressed the edges in white ink from Studio G to go for the white washed look. The roosters were printed on cream colored card stock and distressed with Early Espresso Ink from Stampin' Up! The roosters were colored with oil pencils before being distressed. The sentiment, which is from my head and printed from the computer, was distressed in Crumb Cake ink from Stampin' UP!

Thursday, June 20, 2013

Back with a quick card. The challenge for Thursday at Outlawz is to distress your design.

Well, it turns out this was the perfect challenge. You see, I was trying to straighten up my craft area and I came across a card base that I had made. It was already distressed, so I just needed to finish it. So, here is what the outcome was:

The card base is plain white cardstock. I then adhered the script paper (k & Company basic gray). Then I took a page from an old dictionary and spritzed it with my homemade tea glimmer mist. When it was dry, I tore away the edges and adhered it to the card. I then added the Vertical pink and white piece (also from K & Co. Basic Grey). That was the base of the card that I found while cleaning up.

Next, I found a free vintage typewriter digi, free vintage cake digi, and free vintage type writer keys (all at freevintagedigitalstamps.com) I printed them all out on cream colored paper. I cut out the typewriter with my scissors then the smaller parts out with a craft knife. Then I very lightly went over the typewriter with vintage photo distress ink and adhered it down to some gold shimmer paper. The edges of the gold paper were distressed with a Stampin' Up distress tool. I then adhered that to a black piece of card stock that had been torn at the edges.

Next I sliced a line where the paper would come out of the typewriter. I used a free font Byron Mark I (your can download it here: Byron Mark I), which is meant to look like vintage type, I cut it out in the shape of a piece of paper, distressed it and slid it through the slice to make it look like the paper was in the typewriter. I also curled the paper slightly to make it appear that it had been through the roller of the typewriter.

The keys were next. I also printed them out on cream colored paper. I added a bit of vintage photo to age it some and decided that it wasn't the look I was going for. So, I spritzed it with my home made tea glimmer spray. Not only did it add an aged look, it added some shimmer too.

The cake was last. It was printed on cream paper, colored with Stampin' Up markers, spritzed with tea glimmer mist and added to the card. You may have to enlarge the picture to see the shimmer on the cake. For whatever reason, I couldn't get it to show well in the picture.

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

The inspiration for this card was a card I saw on Pinterest, though now I can't find it. The papers are scrap. I cut the butterflies from the Cricut Cartridge: 3D Pinwheels, and that's my handwriting in the corner.

For the background, I found a free flowering vine digi and printed it onto my cardstock. I then colored it with acrylic paint. I didn't smooth out the brush lines. I kind of like the organic look it gave.

This butterfly has a piece of scrap rose paper glued directly behind it.

The scrap piece of rose paper for his butterfly is adhered to the base of the card.

I edged the butterfly layer with faux stitching done in white gel pen and then popped the butterfly layer up off the card base with 2 layers of foam tape.

Monday, June 17, 2013

When I saw this little penguin guy in the bugaboo shop, I couldn't pass him up. He is just way too cute. I have used him on a 5 x 5 card that I will be entering into the following challenges:
1. I Heart Sketches:
2. Outlawz Greetings Challenge: Celebrate Summer
3. Perfect Sentiments Challenge: Sun and Sand

Here he is:

All the papers are scrap. The beach ball was cut from the Cricut cartridge Paper Dolls for Everyday. I colored Poppi the Penguin with sharpie markers. The sentiment was printed from the computer.

I have posted a card very similar to this before, so I will post pics only.

Well, I was only going to show pics, but here is more detail:
1. Card Base: early espresso from Stampin' Up
2. Chevron Layer: From DCWV Haberdash stack
3. "Wood" layer: light brown paper from Recollections, run through the embosser with a wood grain folder. I think inked the debossed side with Crumb Cake ink from Stampin' Up.
4. Screwdriver: I don't have a cartridge with a screwdriver on it, so I welded a bunch of simple shapes from the George and Basic Shapes cartridge to make it. You can get the cut file here: http://www.cricut.com/project/ViewProject/4206/Mr-Fix-It-Card
5. Screws: free clip art
6. Dad: Free font though I can't remember from where I downloaded it. You should be able to find it if you Google tool fonts.

Saturday, June 15, 2013

Fourth of July is just around the corner. Unfortunately, because riding in a car for longer than an hour is very uncomfortable to me now, I am unable to join the rest of the family for the out of town get together that happens every year. So, I am sending cards to everyone instead. If I can't be there in person, at least I can be there in spirit. This is one of the cards that I will be sending.

All the papers I used were scrap. The silver star brad is from my stash. The sentiment was printed off my computer. The elephant is from Bugaboo and colored with sharpie markers.

Here is a closer look at the little elephant guy. I think is just too cute!

I will be entering this card into the Outlawz Saturday Paper a la mode challenge as well as the Red, White, and Blue challenge at Craftin Desert Diva's.

The challenge this week at Little Scrap Pieces is wedding. It got me thinking about my wedding. My husband and I have been married for 5 years and have been together for 10. We wanted to have a big wedding but were going to have to pay for it ourselves. So, we started to save money, and then life happened, and we would have to spend that money. This happened several times, until I finally got sick of it and told him that if we were going to get married, we just needed to do it. So, we called a few friends, and got married in the preacher's back yard 2 days later. I think it cost us a total of $107 to get married.

I don't regret not having a big wedding. We were actually able to buy a house with the money we saved, but the challenge got me to thinking about the kind of invitations I would have if we did have a wedding that required invitation. I love butterflies so this is what I came up with. It is totally non-traditional, but very me.

This is a butterfly cut from the Ultimate Creative Sampler Circuit cartridge. I cut out the exact image twice and layered patterned velum between the layers. I then added rhinestones. The body of the butterfly I made from beads from my stash and some gold floral wire, then hot glued it to the paper butterfly. You can see in this picture that there is a scroll curled up underneath the butterfly, this is the actual invitation. Keep reading, I'll get there eventually.

This pic shows a closer view of the rhinestones, vellum, and you can see that I added some iridescent glitter to the inner part of the wings.

This is the back of the card. I hot glued a white satin ribbon to the butterfly to hold the invitation.

This is a picture of the invitation. I did this on the computer with a template from windows word 2010. The wording was free on the Michael's website. The digital stamp was also a freebie. I think I got it from freevintagedigitalstamps.com, but I am not exactly sure.

A closer look at the butterfly behind the wording.

I love it. Like I said earlier, totally non-traditional, but totally me. Hope you like it. This card can be customized to occasion in which a butterfly lover might receive a card.

Thursday, June 13, 2013

Not sure if Steam Punk is one or 2 words. I have seen it both ways. Oh, well. Again, I have stepped out of my comfort zone to make this card. I love the steam punk look, but have never attempted to do anything with it myself. I will be entering this card into a few challenges:
1. Outlawz: Wedesday sketch
2. Outlawz: Thursday Twist
3. Paper Playtime: Anything goes
4. Created with Love: Anything Goes

Here goes:

All papers were from the DCWV Habberdash stack. The top hat in the square is also from that same stack. The gears were free digis as were the wings. I printed the wings and the gears onto cream paper. The gears were sponged with Vintage Photo distress ink. The wings were sponged with Stampin' Up Crumb Cake Ink.

Ok, I really don't know if Rapunzel really had a dog, but when I saw the digi, I knew she needed a friend. This card will be entered into a few challenges:
1. Outlawz: CFC Freebie Challenge
2. Casology: Yellow
3. Created with Love: Anything Goes
4. Paper Playtime: Anything Goes

The sky is sponged using Ballet Blue ink from Stampin' Up an a couple different sizes of scallop oval. The rolling hills were free cut from scrap paper. The tree is cut from the Cricut cartridge Camping Out. Rapunzel is a free digi stamp for the challenge by Anne Fenton, the dog is a freebie from Tiddly Inks. The were both colored with sharpies. BFF is hand written in Ballet Blue Marker from Stampin' Up.

Hope you enjoy. This card is a bit out of my comfort zone, as I am very new at coloring digital stamps and this is the first time I have ever used digital stamps to make a scene.

Base Card: Very Vanilla from Stampin' Up
DP: from a stack that I have had forever but no longer has the cover
Sentiment: Printed from computer
Coloring: Sharpie Markers
Embossing: Cuttle Bug Swiss dots Embossing Folder

Sunday, June 9, 2013

I have come across a new sketch challenge and they just happened to have the perfect sketch for a friend's birthday. The challenge is at The Sweetest Thing. Here is the Sketch:
I am also entering this card into the anything goes challenge at http://createdwithlovechallenges.blogspot.com/.
So, back in the day, my friend (and no it wasn't me, LOL) was a big tequila drinker and I found the perfect digital stamp at Bugaboo. Here is my rendition of the sketch:

All papers are scrap except the card base, which is actually white. I'm not big on animal prints, but I thought this would be the perfect place to use it up. The sentiment came with the stamp.

The purpose of this picture was to try to capture the bling above the shot glass. You can tell it's there, but the iridescence didn't show up. As you can tell, I'm not the best at coloring. I am still new to the whole shading thing, and her hair is a mess, but I figured since she was drunk, it really didn't matter. Her hair was colored with Stampin' Up ink in crumb cake as well as early espresso. I attempted, poorly, to blend with blender pen. I colored her skin with a light flesh colored oil pencil.

Here I am trying to show the shading that I did. Well, I did that but also showed you where I went out of the lines. Her dress, the shot glass, her boots, her earrings, her sunglasses, and the grey shading were all done with sharpie marker. I find shading with sharpie much easier than the who blender pen thing. I guess after I do it enough, the blender pen technique will get easier.

This is the inside of the card. The sentiment was inspired by a CAS challenge I did quite some time ago. The challenge was care. When it comes to CAS, I try to think outside the box, and the above sentiment was what I came up with.

I am quite proud of this card, even though it's kind of messy. I hope you like it too.

I'm not sure if this really counts as CAS, simply because of the layers, but the intention really was to do a CAS card. The free cartridge in the CCR this week is Wedding Invitation. The sample card was fabulous, so I gave it a shot. I decided to turn it into an anniversary card instead.

All papers, except the blue glitter paper are Very Vanilla Stampin' Up paper. The inks I used were Vintage Photo and a brown sharpie. The embossing folders I used are D'vine swirls, Swiss dots, and Mary Ann (all cuttlebug folders).

Here you can see that the edges of each layer were inked in brown sharpie to provide contrast. The 10 was cut from DCWV glitter paper. You can tell the main back ground was embossed with Mary Ann, the Belly Band with D'Vine Swirls, and the circle with Swiss Dots. Each layer of the center focal point was popped up with thin foam tape as to not make it too tall.

Just a closer look at the pearls. A light shade of blue to set them off a little bit.

Saturday, June 8, 2013

Just a quick card I made for one of the ladies I used to work with. She is retiring this Friday.

All papers are scrap with a plain white card base. The image is from From the Heart Digital Art Stamps and is called Tropical chick. The tree and grass are colored with Stampin' Up ink and Stampin' Up blender pen. The check is colored with oil pencils and blended with rubbing alcohol. The chick has been popped off the page with foam tape. The sentiment "Just Relax" came with the stamp.

This part of the sentiment came from my brain. I started to use the sketch from I Heart Sketches
But didn't really adhere that closely too it. I guess my brain just wasn't going to be disciplined enough to follow a sketch today. I will enter it into the challenge anyway.